The stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.

Friday, September 11, 2015

The 1902 Siegel-Cooper Warehouse -- No. 249 West 17th Street

In 1902 the massive Siegel-Cooper Department Store on Sixth
Avenue laid plans for a new warehouse nearby.The store was just seven years old and had been leasing a combined
store-warehouse building at Nos. 214-216 West 17th Street—a structure
erected especially for Siegel-Cooper.But by now that facility was no longer sufficient for the store’s extensive
stable of horses, delivery wagons, and large stocks of goods.

A postcard captured the scope of the 85,560 square foot store.

On May 18, 1902 The
New York Times reported that it was the Siegel-Cooper Company who had purchased “that
part of the old Colonial Brewery property running through from 249 to 255 West
Seventeenth Street to 236 to 242 West Eighteenth Street.”The large plot stretched 97 feet along both
streets.The store announced its
intentions to “erect a large storage warehouse.”

Within a week De Lemos & Cordes--the architectural firm that had designed Siegel-Cooper's exuberant Beaux Arts department store building--began work on the plans
for the new building.On May 24 it announced that the five-story
building would be of “steel construction, with electric elevators, etc.”

By the time of the structure’s completion the five stories
had grown to seven.Matching facades on
17th and 18th Streets were understandably understated as
compared with the Sixth Avenue store.Yet the utilitarian structure boasted its own architectural flair.The tripartite design was defined by two
thick bandcourses.Red brick rusticated piers
that rose the height of the building along with segmental arched openings at
the fifth floor comprised the sparse ornamentation of the upper floors.

For the first two floors, however, the architects used lusty
terra cotta ornaments to distinguish the façade.Each pier culminated with winged orbs bearing
a sash emblazoned with SC&Co; and the bay doors were flanked by large,
intricate wreaths.These, most likely,
originally framed the supports of decorative lamps.Terra cotta keystones over the bays included
the firm’s entwined monogram.Directly
above, brick pilasters with prim terra cotta capitals supported a metal
entablature that announced the store’s name.

The up-to-date amenities of the 125,000 square foot warehouse
went beyond electric elevators.The
Spectator, on March 31, 1904, noted “The plant is splendidly equipped with
every modern fire-resisting and extinguishing appliance.”

The intricate terra cotta wreaths most likely served as frames for lamp brackets.

But the same year that The Spectator
made the comment Henry Siegel was in trouble.The man who had been called “the Napoleon of the Department Store
industry” had overextended himself.The
Chicago-based businessman sold the New York operation to Joseph B. Greenhut for
$500,000.Greenhut later reported that
Siegel wept during the transaction.

Greenhut’s purchase of the department store came at an
ill-advised time.Already the grand
emporiums of what was known as the Ladies’ Mile were abandoning Sixth Avenue,
following Roland Macy’s lead.In 1902 he
had shocked New York by moving Macy's department store ten blocks north of the
shopping district, to 34th Street and Broadway.

Nevertheless, Greenhut pushed on, confident that the Sixth
Avenue shopping district would rebound.His
optimism was soon dashed.By 1913 the
expansive 17th Street warehouse was no longer used for storage of
goods; but had been converted to the Greenhut store’s cabinet-making shop.For at least two years 20 men worked on
custom furniture here.

In 1915 the Greenhut operation failed.On
December 4 that year The New York Times reported that Gimbel Brothers, located
on Greeley Square just south of Macy’s, had leased the “former Siegel-Cooper
warehouse” for $25,000 a year.

Eventually Gimbel Brothers purchased the property, retaining
it for decades.But by 1940 the
department store was no longer using the warehouse and had converted it to offices and
loft space.In January that year the
Saxon Paper Products Company took space; and three years later when Gimbels
finally sold the building The Times noted “It is now occupied by the Jewel
Sales Company and the Saxon Paper Company.”

The building would be sold and resold over the next decades.
In 1949 Saxon Paper Products was still
here, sharing space with the Sinco Shoe Stores.

The old warehouse building received a startling internal make-over
in 1983 when Benny Zucker took over 10,000 square feet for his silk flower
business.Zucker’s family had been
importing artificial flowers from China for generations.He hired a team to transform the space—two merchandising
consultants, two architects, an illustrator, a lighting and an audio
specialist.

The result was a gigantic showroom for handmade flowers—mostly
of silk—featuring dramatic lighting, artistic tableaux, and the sounds of
ducks, crickets, birds and waterfalls.Customers purchased the items by the stem—ranging from 50 cents apiece to
$5,000 for a fake tree.

The flower showroom made way for Barneys warehouse at the
turn of the century.Here the luxury retailer
offered customers discounted merchandise for more than a decade.On February 20, 2001 Times columnist Monte
Williams commented on the undisguised pipes and wires, as well as the demeanor
of the warehouse sale patrons.

“Barneys with eight stores in America, is known for its Spartan
civilization.But it warehouse sale is
decidedly uncivilized.”

In 2013 Savanna, a real estate private-equity firm,
purchased the old Siegel-Cooper warehouse along with the adjacent building at
No. 245 West 17th Street.Vice
President Kevin Hoo announced the firm’s intentions to spend $21 million to “preserve
and enhance the loft-style aesthetic.”

The architectural firm Studios was commissioned to “reimagine”
the buildings.The resultant renovation preserved
the original hardwood floors and exposed 17-foot ceilings, and restored the
masonry façade.Unlike so many vintage building make-overs
that result in luxury housing; Savanna’s focus was on retail and office space.

It worked.In 2013 the
American home furnishings retailer Room & Board took 60,000 square feet for
its flagship showroom; followed by Twitter which leased 140,000 square feet as
its headquarters.Savanna sold the
building in 2014 for $335 million.

Except for the unfortunate loss of the cornice on both
facades, and, of course, the sympathetic street level make-overs; little has
changed to the 1902 Siegel-Cooper warehouse from which once teams of horses
pulled package-filled drays to the homes of shoppers.